“When it works as intended?” Iceni pressed.
After a moment’s hesitation, Bradamont nodded again. “When it works as intended. I’m going to be honest with you. There are some in the Alliance who believe that things like secrecy and strong internal security are the most important pillar of the government.”
Iceni laughed. “If secrecy and strong internal security were the answers to stability, then the Syndicate Worlds would have been the most stable government in the history of humanity. Haven’t you learned anything from us?”
“Perhaps we’ve learned the wrong things,” Bradamont said. “Some of us, that is.”
“You wouldn’t be the first.” Iceni traced an idle pattern on the surface of her desk with one finger. “Now, we have Midway Star System. How many legs support this government?”
Bradamont frowned. “Four?”
“Two.”
“But… I was thinking the leaders, you and the general, the people, the ground forces, and the warships.”
“No.” Iceni shook her head to emphasize the word. “There are only two legs. One is me, and one is General Drakon. The people do not yet form a supporting leg. It’s not a role they are used to, they do not trust General Drakon or me because they have spent their entire lives not trusting their leaders, and such lessons are hard to overcome, and they lack experience in guiding their own affairs. My warships will not act against the people on my orders. I could tell Kommodor Marphissa to bombard a city, and she would not do it.”
“You’re right,” Bradamont said. “If she did pass on the order, her crews would rebel rather than carry it out.”
“And what does Colonel Rogero tell you about the state of the ground forces?” Iceni asked.
Bradamont smiled sardonically. “I know you’ve been informed of that. They are loyal and will support you, but they won’t fire on the citizens. Not anymore.”
“Exactly. The citizens are not a leg. They are a club that could knock our legs out from under us.” Iceni brooded for a moment before saying more. “So we depend on two legs. What if something happens to Drakon or me? Then we’re trying to balance the government on one leg. It can be done, by balancing opposing forces and doing whatever is necessary, but it is a constant struggle and requires a cold-blooded willingness to betray, murder, and subvert in any way necessary to keep the government standing on that one leg. If you misjudge, if something happens to you, it topples.”
“You want something better than that?” Bradamont asked.
“I want…” Iceni spent a few more moments in thought. This wasn’t something she could risk saying to anyone other than Bradamont. “I would like to create something that depends for stability on many legs, none of which are fear of our own or of others or of the unknown. I would like to spend days coming up with new things to do, new horizons to explore, not putting out fires and plotting and trying to keep the whole mess from toppling into ruin. I would like to know that I can someday retire and not worry about being put on trial or murdered by my successor. I want to build something that endures. Something that people don’t dread but truly do see as their protector. I want the sort of thing I have never seen. And, yes, I want people to remember that I built it.”
“If you do build something like that,” Bradamont said, “you will be remembered. Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you’re not one of us, you haven’t been poisoned by the experiences we have had, and because I am worried, Captain Bradamont. I am worried about external enemies. But I am also worried about the mood of the people of this star system, who have this bright, shiny new toy offering them more freedom, more power, and more responsibility than they have ever been allowed in Syndicate space. You know what has happened in many other star systems as Syndicate control weakened or collapsed. Fragmentation of authority, internal fighting, endless argument and warfare over who gets to control things. I sense this star system tottering on the edge of such a cliff precisely because I have allowed the people here more right to decide and to rule themselves, and they simply lack the experience to do so without repeating the mistakes of the only form of government they really know—the Syndicate form of government. Moreover, there are agents among them, enemy agents, snakes and possibly others, who are trying to create trouble, feeding fears, trying to get our people to do things that will knock the legs out from under this government.”
“Does General Drakon share those fears?” Bradamont asked.
“No. Or, at least, he hasn’t expressed them in any form I can see.” Iceni waved toward the star display again. “General Drakon is focused on external threats, on building… well, defensive walls. And he’s not wrong that we need to deal with Ulindi. He wasn’t wrong that intervening in Taroa was in our best interest. He was willing to spend precious resources to let the people of Kane, those who still survive, know that we want to help them and that we are nothing like the Syndicate. However, the walls won’t do us any good if the people inside them go on a rampage.”
“But you’re focused on internal stability,” Bradamont said. “In a good way, from all I am hearing. Is that a bad division of labor? General Drakon looking toward external threats and you to internal stability?”
“Not if you put it that way,” Iceni conceded. “You have to understand that neither General Drakon nor I have much experience with actually working together with other CEOs. What seems to you a reasonable division of labor seems to us to be a dangerous ceding of authority to someone else.”
“Or, ceding some authority to the people?” Bradamont suggested. “That’s the same thing to you, isn’t it? Something dangerous?”
“It is. I’ll tell you frankly,” Iceni added, “that it’s easier to trust Drakon than it is to trust the people, but neither comes easily. What do you know about the situation regarding Colonel Morgan?” It was strange how hard it was to say that woman’s name without putting her feelings into her tone of voice.
Bradamont made a face. “Only what Colonel Rogero was told, that Colonel Morgan no longer speaks for General Drakon and no longer has command authority. I understand she has also been sent on a special assignment.”
“What is your impression of Colonel Morgan?” Iceni asked.
“She scares the hell out of me,” Bradamont admitted.
“That makes two of us. Why do you suppose General Drakon placed so much trust in her for so long?”
Bradamont hesitated. “I am reluctant to betray confidences…” she began in more formal tones.
“If you don’t want to talk about what Colonel Rogero has told you, just share your own impressions.”
“Then I would say that General Drakon trusted her because Colonel Morgan has a fanatical level of loyalty to him. He could tell that. Maybe he was flattered by that, especially coming from a woman like Colonel Morgan. But I don’t think General Drakon was manipulated by her. I think he believed her and believed in her.”
“Men.” Iceni put a world of meaning into the single word.
Bradamont smiled. “They all need some work, don’t they?”
“As do all of us,” Iceni said. “I would welcome your suggestions, Captain Bradamont, on handling the people in this star system.”
“I think you’re doing a good job,” Bradamont said. “But you are, I believe, absolutely right that the people need to become a stable leg of the government. That means they need to see the government as their government. They need to see you not just as the leader but as their leader. Whatever you do has to reinforce the idea that you and the people are the same. Words won’t matter, not among people who are used to their government’s lying to them. What will make a difference is what you do. The steps you have taken to reform the legal system for example, to make it a system actually interested in justice, are very important. The changes to the legal system are a bit disruptive, but you can’t afford to halt them because simply halting forward progress would be seen as backsliding.”